Kany Seck's 20% Project

I called my 20% project "Tying the technological loose ends". I was very grateful to be able to "earn" credit while accomplishing this extra work. My main focus was the new MCA3 Math Sampler. The sampler was released in late December and for the first time, our students will take the Math MCA online. I used the item sampler to create a flipchart using ActivInspire. I made a French and English version of the quiz. It was great because students could use the ActivExpression devices that come with the Promethean Board to respond to the questions. I also could have all the results and their analysis on a spreadsheet the moment the kids finished taking the test. I shared the quiz with my 4th grade colleagues and all 100 students completed it. This was a great learning experience for me. We could pinpoint the weaknesses and address them before the actual test.Feel free to use the English version of the 4th grade MCA Math Item Sampler. The flipchart is saved in P/Normandale Promethean/Grade4/Les maths.

This project meets the three NETS.S standards. The kids use the ActivExpression voting devices to complete the quiz. They have seen people engage in similar activities several times on TV game shows. The tools are not only engaging but they bring a real-life aspect to the activity. The quiz was used as formative assessment and it was a powerful and effective tool especially in analyzing the results and identifying weaknesses. As a teacher, I learned a new, engaging and effective way of seamlessly testing the kids. They actually enjoyed using the ActivExpressions to enter their responses. The vote was of course confidential but the children was able to see the right answer once everyone responded. They could also see the percentage of students who answered correctly.

During my 20% Project, I have had to change my focus several times because of my students' needs. After working on the quiz, I have now to focus on addressing the weaknesses that emerged from the results analysis. As a result, my biggest lesson during this project was that while tying loose ends, I found new ones to tie. It is now clear that when you deal with students, there is no way tying all the loose ends. Teaching (and learning)is just a never ending process.